4 Are Held in Attack on Mexican Immigrants

By JULIA C. MEAD

Published: June 15, 2006

Four Long Island teenagers claiming to be federal agents beat and robbed two Mexican immigrants fishing off a jetty Monday night after demanding to see their green cards, the authorities said yesterday. The assault, which the police said took place on a beach in Rocky Point, was the latest in a series of attacks on Latino immigrants in Suffolk County.

The four teenagers -- William Foley, 16; Nicholas J. Provenzano, 19; Daniel Sturgis, 19; and Jesse Lee Ward, 18; all of Rocky Point -- are non-Hispanic whites. They were charged with robbery and assault as hate crimes, both felonies, and arraigned yesterday in Suffolk County's First District Court in Central Islip.

Judge Paul Hensley ordered Mr. Sturgis held in $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bond and the other three in $25,000 bail or $50,000 bond. All four were being held at the county jail last night.

James D'Angelo, who represented Mr. Ward and Mr. Foley in court, said all four pleaded not guilty. ''They are denying involvement in this,'' Mr. D'Angelo said.

Violence toward Latino immigrants has erupted regularly in Suffolk.

Nearly six years ago, two white supremacists tried to kill two Mexican day laborers in Shirley. In 2003, a Mexican family's house in Farmingville was firebombed. Last year, a Latino community leader was beaten in Montauk by a man who shouted ethnic slurs. And in April a teenage neo-Nazi sympathizer chased three Latino classmates in East Hampton with a machete and a chain saw that he was revving.

The attack on Monday night occurred as the two Mexican men, whom the police did not identify, were fishing. ''These men were just sitting on the jetty, minding their own business,'' said Sgt. Robert Reecks, head of the Police Department's hate crimes unit.

The teenagers then punched and kicked the two fishermen, stole their money, yelled racial and ethnic epithets and accused Latinos of stealing jobs from United States citizens, Sergeant Reecks said.

Witnesses heard the yelling and ran to the victims' aid, and also helped the police track down and identify the suspects, he said. The victims were not seriously injured and did not require medical attention, the police said.